Two knights and a pawn too many

by Karsten Müller
5/21/2019 – It is strange but two knights alone cannot force checkmate. However, things are different when the defending side still has a pawn at or behind the so-called Troitzky-line. It also depends on where the defending king is placed. Karsten Mueller explores some of the secrets of this unusual endgame.

Chess Endgames 1 to 14 Chess Endgames 1 to 14

All endgame DVDs by Karsten Müller in one package! More than 70 hours of instruction! from "Basic knowledge for beginners" (volume 1) to "Practical Rook Endgames" (volume 8) to the ever-popular "Golden Guidelines of Endgame Play" (volume 14).

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Mating with the knights

If White manages to block the enemy pawn when the pawn is standing on the squares a4-b6-c5-d4-e4-f5-g6-h4 or further back (the so-called Troitzky-line) White always wins — although in some cases only by ignoring the 50-move-rule. However, if the pawn is beyond the Troitzky-line — as in our example — things are less clear. But Black loses if his king happens to be on the wrong squares. These losing zones are close to the corner of the board, in this case h8 and a1.

 

Karsten Mueller in ChessBase Magazine

Do you like these lessons? There are plenty more by internationally renowned endgame expert Dr Karsten Müller in ChessBase Magazine, where you will also find openings articles and surveys, tactics, and of course annotations by the world's top grandmasters.

Apart from his regular columns and video lectures in ChessBase Magazine there is a whole series of training DVDs by Karsten Mueller, which are bestsellers in the ChessBase Shop.

Karsten Mueller

Karsten Mueller regularly presents endgame lessons in the ChessBase Video Portal

ChessBase Magazine 189

World Team Ch and Chess Festival Prague with analyses by Vitiugov, Wojtaszek, Vidit, Duda, Adams, Jones, McShane and many more. Lots of videos by Vidit, King, Williams, Marin, Pelletier etc. Plus eleven opening articles, e.g. Italian Game with 6...d5!?

Highlights of this issue

  • CBM 184Najdorf selection
    In video, Yannick Pelletier presents three tricky Sicilians from the Gibraltar Open
  • "I had an idea in the Berlin"
    Prague winner Nikita Vitiugov shows how he beat Pentala Harikrishna
  • "After 36...h5 I was dancing inside!"
    Enjoy Vidit Gujrathi’s video analysis of his win against Boris Gelfand
  • The Torre Surprise
    Savour Simon Williams‘ opening video, featuring a novelty in the Torre Attack!
  • Look forward to five extra videos! Mihail Marin shows a game by the new European champion Vladislav Artemiev. Yannick Pelletier presents his Najdorf selection from the Gibraltar Open. And Robert Ris gives us the slogan: “Everything depends on concrete things!”
    ...and much more!

Links

Karsten Müller is considered to be one of the greatest endgame experts in the world. His books on the endgame - among them "Fundamentals of Chess Endings", co-authored with Frank Lamprecht, that helped to improve Magnus Carlsen's endgame knowledge - and his endgame columns for the ChessCafe website and the ChessBase Magazine helped to establish and to confirm this reputation. Karsten's Fritztrainer DVDs on the endgame are bestsellers. The mathematician with a PhD lives in Hamburg, and for more than 25 years he has been scoring points for the Hamburger Schachklub (HSK) in the Bundesliga.

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